The power of magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) equipment is continually increasing to meet the demand in the medical community for better and faster images. However, as the power of MRI equipment increases, an increased amount or level of audible noise is generated due, in part, to the coil assembly of the MRI equipment. As a result, the level of noise may increase to the extent that it exceeds health and safety regulatory and industry standards which seek to protect the worker from increased noise levels. Such MRI equipment must, therefore, be properly contained within a RF shielded and acoustically insulated room to protect the MRI equipment from stray electromagnetic radiation and to protect the medical staff or operators of the equipment from continuous undesirable noise levels.
An important feature of the RF shielded and acoustically insulated room is the door. While having to fulfill its primary task of shielding RF fields and insulating noise, the door must also be easy to operate, durable and aesthetically pleasing to operators and patients. Attempts have been made to address the problem of providing a door which acts to shield RF fields and insulate noise without compromising its performance. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,206 to Industrial Acoustics Company, Inc. is directed to a room that is RF shielded and acoustically insulated. The room includes a door that is acoustically sealed by acoustic seals associated the door frame.
It is desirable to provide improved RF shielded and acoustically insulated doors which have higher attenuation characteristics and better noise insulation capabilities.